When children watch television, they can assess the reality of what they are seeing. Content judged unreal may have less influence on viewers than does content judged real. This study examines children's reality judgments about television series featuring families with children. Participants included twenty-seven 7-year-olds, nineteen 11-year-olds, and nineteen 15-year-olds, with somewhat more girls than boys at each age. Measurement instruments included the Realism, Uses and Gratifications, Match Actual, Match Aspired, Television Literacy, and Viewing Frequency instruments. The children defined reality in reference to frequency among real-life American families so that characteristics of television families were judged more realistic when they were believed to be more common among real-life families. Children correctly recognized demographic differences among families and the lack of differences in portrayed feelings, actions, and general realism. Age of the child alone was never a determinant of adjudged reality. The lack of consistent, strong age effects may be due to the measures and methods employed. Further research should examine the mediating function of perceived realism in the television effects process. Four pages of references, five tables, and two figures are included. (ABL)

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